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2006 Buckeyes Forecast, Recruiting, and The Game (Merged)

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DDN

2/3

Basketball, football tickets going up $1

By the Dayton Daily News
The cost of watching the Ohio State Buckeyes in person is going up.
<!--endtext-->

<!-- inset --> <!--begintext--> A Board of Trustees committee approved a $1 increase in the ticket prices for football and men's basketball starting in 2007.
Football tickets will cost $59, not counting a $3 handling fee. The face value of basketball tickets will range from $15 to $26.
<!--endtext--><!-- // END CONTENT // --> <!--endclickprintinclude-->
 
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Times Recorder

2/3

Tressel reels in yet another top class
By JON SPENCER
Gannett News Service

<!-- ARTICLE BODYTEXT --> <!--ARTICLE TEXT--> COLUMBUS - After Akron Garfield running back Chris Wells scored three touchdowns and grabbed MVP honors at the U.S. Army All-America Bowl last month, one analyst crowed that the 6-1, 225-pound crown jewel of Ohio State's 2006 recruiting class would start for the Buckeyes this fall.
That's obviously news to incumbent tailback Antonio Pittman, coming off the 10th-best rushing year in school history. And even bigger news to head coach Jim Tressel, who made no predictions or promises as he unveiled his newest class Wednesday.
"Recruiting is such an inexact science," Tressel said. "I remember a former staff member here, when we said we were going to offer A.J. Hawk a scholarship, he said, 'Oh, man. That's like a (Division) 1-AA fullback coming here.' Now, A.J. will be able to buy a few things here in a few weeks."
Hawk, the reigning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and a two-time consensus first-team All-America linebacker, is expected to be a top 10 pick in April's NFL draft."You just never know (about recruits)," Tressel said. "So who will do it? I don't know that any of us at this time last year would have thought that (freshman) Malcolm Jenkins would start five games at cornerback."
That's not to say that Tressel would be surprised if Wells made an immediate impact
as a change-of-pace complement to Pittman.
"Chris had all those expectations in high school, so I think he's been through that more than some players have," said Tressel of the Parade All-American. "It will be up a notch here, but he appears to be the kind of guy to uphold those expectations."
Even though Wells will enroll at OSU in March and participate in spring drills, he will find himself playing catch-up to classmate Ross Homan.
One of five highly-touted linebackers in the class, Homan is already attending classes at Ohio State after leading Coldwater to the 2005 Division IV state championship.
"I saw him in the weight room at 6 this morning," Tressel said. "On one side was A.J. and on the other side was (linebacker) James Laurinaitis, so he's definitely hanging with the right guys."
Ohio State loses nine defensive starters, including a linebacking crew that included Bobby Carpenter and Anthony Schlegel. Homan will be competing for playing time with veterans like Mike D'Andrea and John Kerr, promising youngsters Laurinaitis and Marcus Freeman and junior college transfer Larry Grant.
"That's why I'm working out with a lot of intensity, so I can compete at the highest level," Homan said. "I wanted to get an early start and get comfortable with the surroundings so when I come in for freshman camp, it won't be frustrating.
"I love to compete and it's going to be competitive (at linebacker), so I'm looking forward to it."
Despite reeling in the nation's No. 1 running back prospect and arguably the best group of linebackers, the Buckeyes did not earn a consensus top 10 ranking. In most polls, they finished third in the Midwest behind Penn State and Notre Dame. Rivals.com ranked OSU 12th overall and Bill Kurelic of Midwest Football Recruiting News had the Buckeyes 10th.
The Buckeyes were downgraded for only landing two offensive linemen, though one of them is Cincinnati Colerain's Connor Smith, a Parade All-American and one of the top six linemen in the country.
"I don't have a whole lot consternation about it," Tressel said. "I've been here five years and can tell you exactly what our record was those five years. But I can't tell you where we ranked in recruiting. Having a top 10 class validates you a little bit, but until the players come in and do anything you're not truly validated."
Tressel made reference at one point to the 2002 recruiting class, which ranked second to reigning national champion Texas. Ironically, that OSU class also featured the nation's premier running back (early enrollee Maurice Clarett) and a stellar linebacker crew.
That year, 18 of the 25 recruits hailed from Ohio. This time around, the Buckeyes were more of a national player, with half of the class comprised of out-of-state talent.
"No question, our football program is nationally recognized and the success we've had in big games has attracted players," said assistant recruiting coordinator Greg Gillum. "They see the atmosphere and tradition surrounding Ohio State football and they want to be a part of it."
Kurelic said Ohio State did a good job in-state, nabbing eight of the top 10 players.
"The kids we recruited this year, from the time they were 13 to 18, have seen us on TV more than any other team in the country and have seen us win big games and three BCS bowls," Tressel said. "Ohio is where we're always going to begin, but we're trying to get better in all phases, and it doesn't matter where the players are from."



<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="1" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td class="facts" bgcolor="#dddddd" valign="top"> The 2006 breakdown </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="facts" bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top"> 20 recruits
10 in-state players
10 out-of-state players
8 offensive players
12 defensive players
Four 5-star players (Chris Wells, Connor Smith, Robert Rose)
Average core GPA - 3.03
10 players with 3-plus GPA
Six state Players of the Year
Two Parade All-Americans (Wells, Smith)
Three Army All-Americans (Wells, Smith, Rose)
spacer.gif
</td></tr></tbody> </table>
 
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DDN

2/4/06

OSU NOTES
Former coach gives Buckeyes helpful hint

By Doug Harris
Dayton Daily News

COLUMBUS | — Ohio State football coaches thought they had cast a net around all of their 2006 recruits before getting a tip in December about a prized catch in the junior-college ranks.

Dick Walker, an OSU assistant from 1969-76, called coach Jim Tressel about a five-star linebacker at City College of San Francisco.

Six-foot-3, 225-pound Larry Grant, who played for Walker at Meadowcreek High School in Norcross, Ga., committed to Florida. But he lacked a class needed to meet Southeastern Conference requirements, causing him to look elsewhere.

"Dick Walker said, 'This is the type of guy you need to win the Big Ten,' " Tressel recalled.

The Buckeyes have to replace all three starting linebackers, and Grant is a potential quick fix.

He had six interceptions and six blocked punts while being named national junior-college player of the year.

"Once we heard about him from Dick Walker and saw him on tape and got to know him a little bit, it was full-go ahead," OSU defensive coordinator Jim Heacock said. "If it wasn't for Dick Walker exposing him to us, we probably wouldn't have recruited him."

QB is Smith-like

OSU signee Antonio Henton is a dual-threat quarterback in the Troy Smith mold, having passed for 30 touchdowns and rushed for 10 while leading Peach County High School to a Georgia state crown last season.

"He's very athletic," OSU quarterbacks coach Joe Daniels said. "He's got good quickness. But the one fact about him is, he can throw the football — like Troy."

Plodding pocket passers are disappearing at the college level as fast as pay phones.

"Defenses are so good and have such great athletes, it's hard not to have a great athlete at quarterback," Daniels said.

Local players praised

Springboro tight end Jake Ballard and Northmont defensive back Kurt Coleman made early verbal commitments, causing them to become somewhat overlooked in this class. But the Buckeyes are ecstatic to have them.

Tressel said the 6-7, 255-pound Ballard is "a very explosive athlete. As big as he is, he's got extraordinary movement. When you see him, you think, 'That's what a Big Ten tight end has to look like.' "

The Buckeyes must replace their entire defensive backfield, and Coleman, who will enroll in time for spring practice, could compete for a starting job.

"Our people were high on him from the get-go," Tressel said.

Glenville rich in talent

The Buckeyes have signed 10 Cleveland Glenville players since Troy Smith came aboard in 2002, including three this season.

But others are tapping into the pipeline, too.

The Tarblooders are sending five more players to Big Ten schools this year and had a staggering 15 Division I-A signees in all.

All not admitted yet

A number of OSU recruits haven't met admissions standards yet.

But recruiting coordinator John Peterson said, "We feel very good that these kids academically are moving toward being here at Ohio State."

Contact Doug Harris at 225-2125.
Click to expand...
 
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PlainDealer

2/5/06

OHIO STATE FOOTBALL RECRUITING

<H1 class=red>Half of out-of-sight class out of state

</H1>

Sunday, February 05, 2006

Doug Lesmerises

Plain Dealer Reporter

Columbus- The most surprising number from Ohio State's 20-player football recruiting class unveiled Wednesday? Probably the 10-10 tie between Ohio and out-of-state players, the first time in the Jim Tressel era that a recruiting class wasn't Ohio-heavy. John Cooper's last class in 2000 was split 12 and 12.

The breakdowns from Tressel's previous five signing day classes:

2005: 11 Ohio, 6 out.
2004: 14 Ohio, 9 out.
2003: 12 Ohio, 3 out.
2002: 18 Ohio, 7 out.
2001: 10 Ohio, 7 out.

Tressel and recruiting coordinator John Peterson used the same lines about controlling the home turf that have been the norm since Tressel took over.
"Our first priority is to put up the borders around the state and get the best players from Ohio," Peterson said.

The Buckeyes did get seven of the top 10 Ohio players as ranked by rivals.com: RB Chris Wells, DE Robert Rose, OL Connor Smith, WR Ray Small, LB Thaddeus Gibson, LB Ross Homan and DB Kurt Coleman. The misses in the top 10: No. 4 OL Justin Boren (Michigan, where his father played), No. 7 OL Aaron Brown (Virginia Tech) and No. 9 LB Cobrani Mixon (Michigan).

There certainly was some pride taken in landing the No. 17 player from California (LB Mark Johnson), the No. 8 player from South Carolina (FB Aram Olson), the No. 5 player from Indiana (DL Dexter Larimore), the No. 25 player from Georgia (QB Antonio Henton), the No. 13 player from Michigan (DB Aaron Gant) and two top 100 players from the hotbed of Florida (DE Walter Dublin and CB Chimdi Chekwa).

"It's harder to recruit out of state than in state," Tressel said. "Talk to anybody. There's more familiarity in your own state. So to get 10 guys from out of state, that's pretty good."

Notes:

Landing a junior college player, the No. 6-ranked JC player in the country, linebacker Larry Grant, also was a rarity in the Tressel era. Tressel credited former Buckeyes assistant Dick Walker, who coached under Woody Hayes for eight seasons and then with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He wound up a high school coach in Georgia, where Grant played for him before going to City College of San Francisco. "This is the kind of guy you need to win the Big Ten," Walker told the Buckeyes. Then they were interested. . . . Tressel signed three Glenville players, Rose, Small and Bryant Browning, bringing the team total of Tarblooders to seven. Told Glenville had 21 players sign letters of intent, 15 with Division I schools, Tressel joked, "And we only got three of them? Who recruits Cleveland?" . . . Wells sat behind the bench at Saturday's basketball game with running backs coach Dick Tressel and offensive coordinator Jim Bollman. They left at halftime. . . . Last word to Jim Tressel on Ohio State's recruiting style: "Our group isn't a used-car salesman group. I think that helps people feel comfortable."
Click to expand...
 
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"Carr’s contract runs through 2008. He is paid about $1.5 million in base salary. However, he has a clause, according to Sports Illustrated, that pays him an additional $2 million if he’s fired in 2006 or 2007 and $1 million in 2008"

so scUM has to eat even more money if they fire his ass? :slappy:
 
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Dispatch

2/5

COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Back yard is bare for OSU
Central Ohio hasn’t produced Buckeyes the last few years
Sunday, February 05, 2006
Ken Gordon
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
<!--PHOTOS--> <table class="phototableright" align="right" border="0"> <!-- begin large ad code --> <tbody><tr><td> <table align="center"></table> </td></tr> </tbody> </table>
When it comes to in-state recruiting, Ohio State’s football program recently has been round on the ends with a hole in the middle.
In the six years Jim Tressel has been OSU’s coach, the Buckeyes have signed 76 Ohio high-school recruits. Of those, 13 have been from Central District schools, or 17 percent.
By contrast, half (38) have hailed from the Northeast District and 21 (27 percent) from the Southwest.
In the past two seasons, only one Central District product has signed with OSU: Jim Cordle of Lancaster in 2005.
According to area high-school coaches and recruiting experts, though, this phenomenon merely is a reflection of the state’s distribution of talent.
"Ohio State is not avoiding Columbus kids," said Duane Long, Ohio recruiting editor for scout.com. "The talent is very top heavy in the northeast and southwest. That’s the way it tends to be. The Dayton area is producing as much talent as Cincinnati, and otherwise, it’s heavily weighted in the Akron-Youngstown-Cleveland area."
Rivals.com Midwest recruiting editor Bill Kurelic agrees.
"If there are Ohio State-caliber recruits in Columbus, they’re going to go after them," he said. "There have been some years where there have been multiple Ohio State-caliber players in central Ohio, but in the last few years, that really hasn’t been the case."
Kurelic said the only central Ohio player OSU offered in this class was offensive lineman Justin Boren of Pickerington North, "and Michigan had a huge advantage."
Boren’s father, Mike, played for Michigan, and Boren followed.
But it’s not as simple as talent alone. Other factors are involved, such as academics, as recently retired Worthington Kilbourne coach Jeff Gafford pointed out.
"A lot of people think that academically, Ohio State can get everybody in, and they can’t," Gafford said. "Their standards are higher than the NCAA and Big Ten standards."
That’s one reason why the Buckeyes don’t offer scholarships to some of the area’s more talented players. They can’t.
Brookhaven coach Tom Blake said the lack of central Ohio players signing with OSU "is not from lack of effort, believe me. If (the Buckeyes) want kids, they go after them."
But he had another explanation for why some area players go elsewhere. His program sent three players to Minnesota last season and receiver Jeff Cumberland to Illinois last week.
"It can be hard for kids from Columbus to go to Ohio State," Blake said. "Some of them want to get away from their neighborhoods and all the people who will tug on their coattails and hang on for the ride.
"Some of our kids want to get away. They need that. Most of them have never been anywhere else."
Although he wasn’t an OSU-caliber recruit, Linden cornerback William Baker cited just that reason last week for spurning several Mid-American Conference schools in favor of Division I-AA Northern Iowa.
This trend might not change anytime soon. Buckeyesports.com recently listed its top 12 junior prospects in Ohio. None is from central Ohio.
Of the 31 central Ohio players to sign Division I letters of intent last week, 12 went to Division I-AA schools and 11 are headed to the MAC.
"Central Ohio right now is just not developing a lot of top football players," Long said. "Look where they are going. Are they going to schools that OSU competes against, like Michigan, Notre Dame and Penn State? No, they’re not, and that’s where you really tell the tale."
[email protected]
 
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Landing a junior college player, the No. 6-ranked JC player in the country, linebacker Larry Grant, also was a rarity in the Tressel era. Tressel credited former Buckeyes assistant Dick Walker, who coached under Woody Hayes for eight seasons and then with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He wound up a high school coach in Georgia, where Grant played for him before going to City College of San Francisco. "This is the kind of guy you need to win the Big Ten," Walker told the Buckeyes. Then they were interested.

NICE. I'm really excited about getting Grant.
 
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Dispatch

2/10/06

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Buckeyes embrace work in ‘the yard’

With Hayes Center being renovated, weightlifting shifts to fenced-in area

Friday, February 10, 2006

Tim May
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

<!--PHOTOS--><TABLE class=phototableright align=right border=0><!-- begin large ad code --><TBODY><TR><TD><TABLE align=center><TBODY><TR><TD align=middle>
20060210-Pc-F3-0500.jpg
</IMG> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=credit width=200>ERIC ALBRECHT | DISPATCH </TD></TR><TR><TD class=cutline width=200>Ohio State football player Zach Willis lifts in the makeshift weight room. </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>


Roy Hall finished his mid-morning weightlifting workout with some of his fellow Ohio State football players yesterday, then extended a hand to a visitor.

"Welcome to the yard," Hall said.
He was standing near the east end of Woody Hayes Athletic Center’s indoor field.

Behind him was an 8-foothigh cyclone fence stretching almost the width of the football field, encompassing about the final 20 yards, and harboring every piece of weight room equipment the football team owns.

It all used to be in the adjoining weight room. But the players aren’t allowed in there or anywhere else in the formal part of the Hayes Center. The building, which opened in 1987, is undergoing a $19.97 million renovation and expansion.

However, when walls are being knocked down and new foundations are being poured, something has to give. In this case, it’s the players and coaches.

The players are using a small locker room at the end of the adjacent Biggs Facility. The coaches have moved into a 6,000-square-foot temporary office complex in the Fawcett Center across Olentangy River Road.

"There will be some things we have to adjust to over the course of the next eight or nine months," coach Jim Tressel said. "But once we get back into the WHAC, it’s just going to be a much-improved facility."

But the work of building toward the 2006 season must go on now, which is where "the yard" comes in. The strength training and conditioning staff of Allan Johnson, Bernardo Amerson and Butch Reynolds have, in essence, moved their winter workout program onto the back porch.

"I tell you what, these kids have really embraced this; I think this is the best enthusiasm we’ve had for our winter workouts since I’ve been here," said Johnson, in his fifth year. "Some of the guys even wanted us to put barbed wire up around the top for effect, but that wasn’t approved."

Lineman T.J. Downing, a senior-to-be like Hall, said taking the inconvenience and running with it was the only way to go.

"It doesn’t matter where you work, it’s what you do when you’re working that matters," Downing said. "I think our guys are working hard. We know this sets the stage for the kind of football team we’ll be in the fall."

As for the surroundings, "It feels like we’re outside, which feels more like football," sophomore defensive lineman Nader Abdallah said. "I think it makes the workouts more exciting."

Johnson and Amerson have tried to make things a little different from year to year, anyway.

"I credit these players for accepting challenges, and just getting the work done, no matter what," Amerson said. "That’s what makes Ohio State special."

The construction schedule has the players’ locker room and the meeting rooms being completed in time for the start of preseason camp in August.

The new weight room, which is doubling in size to about 16,000 square feet, won’t be finished until late in the season. It’s the same with the coaches’ offices.

When the work is done, there will be a new entrance showcasing the championship teams and trophies and player awards. There also will be a second-floor players lounge and other amenities.

"Everything about this place is going to be state of the art," Hall said. "But I tell you what, I’m enjoying these winter workouts out here in the yard."
[email protected]
Click to expand...
 
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ABJ

Posted on Sun, Feb. 19, 2006
One fan's view

Black cloud lifts, sun shines bright at Ohio State

By Scot Fagerstrom

<!-- begin body-content --> It's good to be a Buckeye these days.
The dark cloud that descended upon Columbus in the months after Ohio State's 2002 national championship football season is but a memory.
Kind of like Maurice Clarett's pro football career.
Clarett began tarnishing the university he helped to reach the football pinnacle before the shine could wear off the crystal football that symbolized that perfect season.
Despite a series of other indiscretions within the athletic department ranging from free dental work for women's basketball players, payments to basketball players that resulted in the firing of former coach Jim O'Brien and quarterback Troy Smith's suspension for accepting money from a booster, OSU is now basking in the gleam of success.
Winning will do that and the Buckeyes are winning.
The football team finished the past season ranked fourth nationally after a resounding victory over Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl and lost only to champion Texas and third-ranked Penn State. The Buckeyes were playing as well as anyone at the end of the season and will be among the favorites to win the national title next season.
Success on the football field is nothing new at OSU, though coach Jim Tressel has restored the pride that had been missing since shortly after Earle Bruce replaced Woody Hayes after the 1978 season.
Tressel's teams routinely beat rival Michigan, something his predecessor, John Cooper, could never figure out how to do and he always seems to have the Buckeyes ready to play in the big games. Tressel also has restored recruiting dominance in Ohio, something that had eroded greatly under Cooper.
Then there are the basketball programs. Granted, both have reached the Final Four in recent memory but Ohio State is hardly known as a basketball school.
Thad Matta and Jim Foster are trying to change that.
Ohio State will always be a football school first, but a quick look at the basketball records this season might indicate otherwise.
Matta's men are 19-4 and contending for a Big Ten title. Foster's women are 22-2 and atop the Big Ten standings.
Ohio State's combined basketball record of 41-6 trails only Duke's 47-2 and Connecticut's 46-5.
Not bad for a football school.
Not since the days of Hayes and Fred Taylor, who coached the Buckeyes to their last basketball national championship more than 40 years ago, has the coaching situation been so stable in Columbus.
In Matta, who took over O'Brien's mess and coached the Buckeyes to a 20-12 season despite having no postseason possibilities for which to play, Ohio State has one of the best young coaches in the country.
How dramatic has Matta's impact been? Not only does he have the Buckeyes in line for another 20-win season and an NCAA Tournament berth, he has not let the fallout from NCAA sanctions stop him from landing a recruiting class like none other in OSU history.
The consensus best high school player in the country, 7-foot center Greg Oden, has committed to the Buckeyes, along with four other recruits, including Dayton Dunbar's Daequan Cook, ranked second among shooting guards. The class is being compared to the Fab Five, led by Chris Webber and Jalen Rose, who transformed Michigan into an instant national power.
Oden has people in Columbus thinking Carmelo Anthony, who as a freshman led Syracuse to the national title.
It's not likely that OSU would trade the trio of Tressel, Matta and Foster for any other trio in the country.
Take Foster out of the mix and only Texas' Mack Brown and Rick Barnes, Oklahoma's Bob Stoops and Kelvin Sampson and Florida's Urban Meyer and Billy Donovan are in the same class with Tressel and Matta.
Give Iowa's Kirk Ferentz and Steve Alford and Notre Dame's Charlie Weis and Mike Brey an honorable mention.
Yep, it's good to be a Buckeye.
 
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